Super Cup Fall Session Round 2

Event: Super Cup – Fall Session – Round #2
Location: Farmers Raceway - Tampa, Florida
Date: September 26, 2009
Classes: 1/10th off-road
Race Reporter: Jason Ruona
Photos Courtesy: Greg Rojna – www.rcactionpics.com

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Weather is no obstacle for the Super Cup faithful. JConcepts has another great weekend winning 3 modified classes and also strong performances in Super Stock and Short Course.

Friday came really fast this week as we prepared for round 2 of the Super Cup at Farmers raceway in Tampa, FL. Paul and I were thrashing on some projects and we got a late start which typically means no practice on Friday evening. It's hard to get dialed with 1 or 2 practice runs. One of these days we are going to practice a whole day and really try and make something happen on the track.

Once the trailer was packed we made the relatively quick drive (1.5 hours) to Tampa to Farmers. Once we arrived we looked at the sky and it was looking like Goose Bumps because it was about to rain. ~yeh~ more rain.

We setup the trailer parallel to Burt’s road. Seemed like a great position but we had to cross a drainage ditch on the way to the track. Paul and I picked up a used pallet for a bridge. Pretty dialed now!

The sky opened up and the rain fell hard for a few hours. Racing in Florida near the summer requires a lot of patience. It was time to check in to the hotel while it rained.

Country Inn and Suites was the destination and with cookies on the front desk things were looking up. After getting adjusted to the room and getting the A/C kicked into high gear. It was time to head back to the track to get unpacked a little bit.

Arriving back at the track the conditions seemed very sloppy now and we were parked right in the middle of it. The F-150 pushed violently in the mud making it difficult to square-up properly to the trailer. We managed to get close enough to get out of the truck and set-up the JC pop-up tent and get things tied down.

Dinner time! We hooked up with Sherwin and Zack Genova and Larry Genova at Chilis. We dropped off a new JC body for paint and had a good dinner. As you could imagine we spent quite a bit of time talking shop and racing. Don’t you want to know what the cool new JC body is Larry is painting?

With dinner out of the way it was time to get some sleep and get ready for the morning.

Apparently arriving at the track at 8:30 is too late. I had 2 "where are you" phone calls on the way to the track as obviously we had some guys *cough* (Matt and Tim) that were ready to go racing and practicing. We arrive to a pretty wet pit area and the track was muddy. No one was allowed on the track yet but our pit area was packed with excitement. I think Paul and I were thinking the same thing. Another race with no practice.

Trailer traffic was brisk early-on and I hadn't even put the B4 on charge yet. It's a little tight trying to pit in the trailer but we manage to get it done. It's just sooo hot outside!

I had enough of sitting around and no practice so I got the B4 ready and threw it down. Track had a lot of traction because it was wet but the GB's were hooked! The actual track layout was a lot of fun and especially the right side where the driving line was probably one of the coolest areas thus far this year. The front table top was kind of weird because you kind of had to double onto the table top and then double off. Jumping on was even more difficult because the second jump was taller than the take-off which made clearing it somewhat tricky. I ran about 3-4 minutes and the car was very dirty but it was a lot of fun!

Qualifying was quick early on as from our pits I could hear the lap times Zach Mote, Zach Genova, Paul Wynn and Leon McIntosh were putting down in 2wd. I wasn’t up by the track but it sounded like Zach Mote had the hero lap in the qualifier but Leon took the win. The runs they put down sounded tough to beat.

I got my buggy cleaned up and ready and the Reedy Lipo charged and ready to go. I ran Double Dees front tires and Goose Bumps in the rear. Everything felt great early but I didn’t really hear any hero laps from the announcer. I started pushing a little harder and the lap times dropped and then when they announced the pace I was a little happier with where I was at. I was roughly 10 seconds under the current TQ mark and things felt pretty good. The jumps were really tough but I thought I found a pretty good line through everything and I felt pretty happy with the pace. Ouch, there goes a donkey flip crash on the center of the track. The marshal was pretty on top of the crash so I didn’t lose too much time. I settled back in and then donkey flip crashed on the center table top….this one hurt a little bit more. I was able to finish off the qualifier with a few more hot laps to still take the TQ.

Modified truck is the new “cool” class to run. It seems every month another couple guy’s throw their hats back into modified truck and it is exciting to see that. At round 1 it was Paul Wynn who threw out the T4 and ended up getting the win. He was challenged heavily by Sherwin Diaz who had taken TQ and given Paul all he wanted in the mains. Getting back to Farmers it was apparent that Zach Mote was all business and he laid it down and took TQ by a pretty nice margin. Everyone else seemed to be struggling with the track conditions and Zach had it figured out in round 1.

Stock truck qualifying looked to be owned by Scott “the madman” Defino. Tim Moon was also running very well and appeared to be right up front as well. We will have to see how things shake down in the mains.

2wd stock qualifying looked like the Gary Fulp show. Gary put down a TQ run and it appeared at least from the outside that his driving was really on this weekend.

Short Course Truck stock class is the Leon and Ryan Eckert show. Matt Mosieur has his Slash working very well and with a new Truth body on it now, things seem to be getting better in the Mosieur team pits. I noticed that the crew chief was not at the race this weekend so it remains to be seen how this might affect Matt’s performance. It looks like if things go Matt’s way at one of these races both Leon and Ryan could be looking at the back of Matt’s truck. Leon’s truck has been dialed since he pulled it out of the box almost a year ago. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him break it or lose a race straight up. Something seems magical about Leon’s Slash. Maybe it is the body? Maybe it the driver? I don’t know but Traxxas might start to fly into our races pretty soon if Leon keeps it up with this truck.

4wd modified came up quick and I wasn’t ready. I was still in the trailer when the guys in my race were checking in. Sorry for making everyone wait. I got a couple warm-up laps in and things started clicking. I made a few mistakes on the tricky double jumps and Brett Kingsbury took a pretty sizable lead in the qualifier. Judging by what was happening with the conditions it seemed round 1 was when you need to put your best run in and Brett took advantage early and hammered everyone setting the new TQ in 4wd. I was able to maintain second for the round but I wasn’t really happy with the run I had. Better luck next time?

I noticed an all black SC10 in our pits when we arrived to the track earlier in the morning. Looks like JR Mitch is going to show us some moves in the modified short course class now. JR chose the Dare body which seems appropriate for the first time out. JR went with the all black body and wheel combination and it looked super sharp. JR took a relatively easy TQ the first run out but it looked like Scott Delfino was also getting an SC10 ready in the pits so we will see what happens come the mains.

Looking toward the mains we were hot in the pits and the heat index must have been through the roof. I think Paul and I were ready to Tapout on several occasions and I don’t even like saying Tapout. Paul and I were both frustrated with our qualifying performances and started wrenching on our vehicles. Good thing Greg Rojna was on hand to shoot photos because we began a major wrench session to get our vehicles back up to speed and we didn’t allow time for the photos. Paul’s 2wd was looking good back together and he was eager to bump out of the B-main into the A-main. Andrew Moore was also in the B-main and it looked to me that those 2 were the favorites to bump.

I changed my set-up on my 2wd buggy and washed my tires and it was ready to go. My 4wd needed a little more love but not too much as I washed the tires on it and got it charged and ready to run the main.

The 2wd modified B-main was a quick one with Paul out front of Andrew and Sherwin Diaz in 3rd. Sherwin put a scare into both Paul and Andrew but in the end he couldn’t make it stick this time around and Paul and Andrew made the bump into the A.

The 2wd stock main was basically a run away for TQ Gary Fulp. Gary had it dialed in from the start and it appears he is going to be someone to recon with for the rest of the series. Does anyone have anything for Gary in 2wd stock?

Stock truck was one of those mains that made you excited about R/C racing all over again. This was a 3 way battle for most of the race but Scott Delfino and Tim Moon were in 1st and 2nd most of the race. There were moments when I thought it was over and then all of a sudden everything tightened back up again and it was a race to the finish. Scott the “madman” Delfino outlasted everyone with his all blue Associated T4. We are going to have to get Scott a paint job and with a nickname like madman the paint job is going to have to be good.

Stock Short Course truck was all business for Leon. Leon still remains unbeaten from what I’ve seen in this class and either Ryan Eckert or Matt Mosieur is going to have to step up their games to make it more interesting.

Modified buggy A-main was getting ready. Everyone got checked in the tension was a little unnerving up on the drivers stand. Not like the worlds or anything but it feels good to be in races where everyone is serious and the competition is top notch. The Super Cup is really brining this year. I would like to thank Bobby Phillips for putting these races on and the thankless job that comes with it. Thanks Bobby!

I lined up in the TQ position and Leon in second and Zach Mote in 3rd. I got a great start and Leon and I were very close. A lot of pile-ups in the back of the pack brought some words on the drivers stand but nothing too serious or an apology later would not fix….ha Paul Wynn really got a great start and moved into 3rd toward the middle of the race. I guess wrenching really helps? I held a nice lead and mostly focused on not crashing on the jumps and tried to maintain a steady pace. Leon made a few bobbles and things opened up a little bit for me. Paul made a big charge and started putting a little pressure on Leon. I tried to maintain focus but I really wanted to see them battle. Can I call a time-out to watch?

I rolled the whole double, double, double section at the end and Leon pulled up a little closer but with a few more laps to go I didn’t really want to donkey flip the race away…ha I made the extra lap and Leon got caught giving me the win and Leon 2nd and Paul 3rd. Awesome main!

Modified truck was up next and TQ Zach Mote looked like he wanted to check out early. Leon once again moved his way up and was challenging Zach now for race lead and looked confident. Zach made a small mistake and Leon took the lead. A few laps later Leon’s truck stopped on the track allowing Zach to retake the lead. Leon was walking off the drivers stand. Tim Davis was up in the action! Matt was along side of the track taking things in looking a bit like Phil Jackson coaching the LA Lakers in crunch time. Matt leaned into me and said if Tim wins this I’m going to go nuts. Oh snap! Veteran Paul Wynn was steadily gaining distance on everyone after a bad start and Tim was fading. Paul worked his way up in to 3rd place and was now battling with the leaders. Little Sean Krause was up in the action with the purple T4 and looked to be on pace. What a race!

I couldn’t believe how close the top 5 was and it really did look like anyone’s race. Interestingly Leon was back on the track and still looked to be in the top 5. How did he walk off the drivers stand and still stay in the top 5? He was quick apparently. Zach looked to have a comfortable lead but some little issues here and there but 2nd and 3rd within distance. Paul was inching his way closer to the lead and Leon had moved back into contention with some smooth driving of his own. Zach’s motor starting making some weird noises but the truck looked ok. Right at the end Zach made a mistake that allowed Paul to take the lead. Is Paul really going to go back to back on Super Cup wins in mod truck? Break up the team……..he’s too good!

It got really close at the end between Paul, Zach and Leon and it appeared experience made the difference as Paul remained calm and put it away. 2 for 2 in modified truck at the Super Cup for Paul Wynn? Great job! As Larry David would say; Pretty ah Pretty ah Pretty good!

4wd modified was up and my 4wd was ready. I didn’t like my grid position and with 4wd anything could happen. Brett had been quick all day and it wasn’t going to be easy pulling off the win. I relied on some BJ4 luck because Brad Reelfs came out and turned my 4wd car on for the mains and I felt obligated to perform out there. Anyone that knows Brad knows he doesn’t let you get away with much. I knew Brad was thinking 2nd on the grid is all you could do with the 4wd?

When the tone went off I went straight for the inside move and took the lead in the first turn. I wanted to do the big jump in front of the drivers stand but I had a small delay on my radio response or speed control and I thought my race was over. Everything clicked back into place and Brett and I were side by side. I got into the lead for good partially through the first lap and just tried to maintain the lead. Brett went for the big jump and made a mistake which gave me enough breathing room to relax a little. Bobby Phillips actually made the comment during the race that I don’t make many mistakes once I’m in the lead. Ouch, just as he said that I donkey flipped in the double’s and needed to be marshaled…..hurry hurry! I got everything squared away and took the win with Ryan Eckert recovering from a poor start to take the 2nd place position.

Modified Short Course was up next and JR Mitch was sitting in the TQ position. He shot off to a quick lead but Scott Delfino and his new SC10 were very close behind. JR played a little and Scott put on the jets and pulled along side of JR to battle. Scott was driving very well and I think he even impressed JR at the end because things got really tight. One little mistake by JR and Scott would have the lead and the upper hand for the smack talk in the pits later on. JR was very professional in his approach at the end and made nice quick tight lines and pulled about a 20 foot lead which he never relinquished.

Round 3 of the Super Cup Series is scheduled for October 24th, 2009 at Extreme Hobby Zone in Winter Haven, Florida. Remember this is going to double as the Super Cup and JConcepts Bash warm-up race. Remember eHz is a quick track that is sure to be challenging. Be there!

Photos Courtesy: Greg Rojna – www.rcactionpics.com

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